The Heterosexual Community

[poliphilo]

Some Diddy-biddy on the BBC News channel just asked an interviewee how something or other would affect the heterosexual community.  The what? 

I'm a heterosexual. How come I never heard of this community before? Why don't they send me the newsletter? Why don't I get invited to meetings? Where's my club badge? 

Who's our convenor? Peter Stringfellow?  Katie Price?

I want to get out and meet my fellow-heterosexuals. I want to take tea with them. I want to discuss all the pressing concerns we have in common.

What lazy, nonsenical stuff all this talk of "community" is.  The Muslim community, the Chinese community, the gay community, the black community: none of these really exists.

Comments

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

That is unfortunate. Language has huge cultural contexts, and buzzwords sometimes fail because of this. I can understand some crossover, as you've pointed out -- I imagine the black community in the U.K. would rejoice at the election of a black PM and therefore take joy in our election's success. LGBT communities might also make sense, as these issues also cross cultural barriers. I think it would be interesting to see the comparisons culturally, especially since the UK is smaller than the US and the idea of community might be a different thing just by default (and of course, proximity to other countries being closer and changing the idea of community). I think I might be wavering in my opinions, now that I've thought on it some more. I will be coming back to see what other people have to say.

One thing is certain, I'm not sure the idea of a "heterosexual community" would hold much sway in the US either, but I could be wrong.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The fact that we have a language in common misleads us. The USA and Great Britain are as foreign to one another as any other two countries.

The biggest difference is size. The whole of the UK would fit into one of the smaller states. I think this conditions the way we theorize about society.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I would definitely agree with this!